Wednesday

May 16, 2018 at 5:18 PM

Erin Freeman alleges "clear, blatant acts of racial discrimination"

Erin Freeman, a junior women’s tennis player at Iowa State University, has filed a Title IX and racial discrimination complaint against ISU with the United States Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, according to her attorney Don Maurice Jackson.

“I have been subjected to repeated acts of racial discrimination and sexual discrimination in violation of Title IX,” Freeman wrote in a statement of facts that accompanied the complaint and was provided to the Tribune by her attorney on Wednesday. “Many of these acts have occurred since January 1, 2018.

“Representatives of Iowa State University have created a hostile educational environment, have enlisted other student-athletes in their efforts to drive me (and the only other African American team member) out of the women’s tennis program and have deprived me of educational opportunities based upon my race.

ISU athletics department spokesperson Steve Malchow confirmed in an email that the Title IX complaint was filed, but declined to comment further. ISU executive director of university relations John McCarroll also declined comment via email.

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights by policy does not acknowledge receipt of complaints unless or until they have been accepted for investigation.

In an interview last week after it was announced that ISU women’s tennis coach Armando Espinosa’s contract would not be renewed, Sanders told the Ames Tribune that it was unrelated to Freeman’s allegations.

“It has nothing to do with that,” Sanders said then.

She also declined at the time to comment further on the accusations.

“I don’t even know that much about it,” she said then. “I’m just trying to evaluate the tennis program.”

Espinosa went 96-144 in 10 years with ISU and went winless in nine conference dual meets this season.

Freeman, one of two black players on the ISU roster, alleges an ISU assistant tennis coach “repeatedly engaged in a pattern of hostile, bullying behavior that was directed at the two African American players in the women’s tennis program.”

Freeman’s statement of facts details a February incident when the team was competing in Florida in which she was driven by the assistant coach to the campus of Bethune Cookman College to complete a school assignment.

“After dropping another player off at a testing center, [the assistant coach] advised me to ‘close the door’ and that she would not be (either) taking me to the location or picking me up after the completion of the assignment,” Freeman writes.

“When I ultimately closed the door, [the assistant coach] immediately drove away and left me in an area that was entirely unfamiliar to me.”

Freeman alleges that the incident “appeared to have been based both upon both her hostility toward me and her apparent lack of desire to be present on the campus of a historically black college.

“In either event, this action subjected me to potential harm, was highly responsible, amounted to an act of bullying and/or harassment and deprived me of an educational opportunity.”

ISU issued 60-day notifications to Espinosa's assistants when it was decided he would not be retained, Sanders said last week, calling it a typical practice after a coaching change.

Freeman also alleges that she was “chastised” by a member of the ISU athletic training staff for visiting a personal physician regarding a chronic knee injury that “amounted to bullying and resulted in a highly uncomfortable academic environment.”

Freeman was suspended from the ISU women’s tennis program on April 11. Sanders wrote Freeman a notification letter, which was included in Freeman’s statement of facts provided to the Tribune, in which Sanders writes she had been “recently approached by six members of the women’s team who by their own initiative, requested to meet with me. During the meeting, all six student athletes indicated your behavior is impacting the rest of the team’s ability to be successful student-athletes at Iowa State.”

Freeman disputes that her teammates approached Sanders by their “own initiative” based on a group text she was inadvertently included on in which an ISU trainer appeared to acknowledge the meeting before it took place.

"Everyone minus (one specific player) is coming in at 2:30 before their meeting with Callie [sic] and trying to figure out how to not single out Erin or make it suspicious," the text message reads according to a screenshot provided by Freeman.

“In light of my historical treatment," Freeman wrote in the statement of facts, "and that of the only other African American member of the team, it appears that these actions were racially motivated."

Freeman also writes she attempted to meet with Sanders after the incident in Florida, but “was dismissively advised that she did not want to talk (to me) about the incident.” She writes that she also attempted to speak with Pollard, but was told he “‘trusted [Sanders] with his kids’ and that he did not believe me.” Freeman does not specify by whom she was told either statement.

Freeman writes that beginning on or about May 1, attorneys for ISU conducted “an internal investigation into the conduct of the women’s tennis coaching staff and interviewed all student-athletes,” but did not request to interview her.

“The actions of representatives of Iowa State University and their calculated efforts to utilize fellow student-athletes to remove me from the tennis program, an effort to terminate my athletic financial aid, identical actions directed at the only other African American team member and their denial of educational opportunities violate Title IX and are clear, blatant acts of racial discrimination,” Freeman wrote.

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